University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Sociology

While bringing tremendous benefits to individuals worldwide, the proliferation of online social networks has also given rise to undesirable online harassment behavior. Although users can respond in various ways, little attention has been paid so far to the use of online coping strategies on social media, more specifically, how individuals respond to online harassment by using the available features on social media. This thesis sought to understand individuals' use of online coping strategies. This thesis aims to tackle these challenges to advance the understanding of whether, how, and why individuals use online coping strategies in response to online harassment. Essay 1 develops a typology of online coping strategies based on users' focus of response (i.e., self or initiator) and mode of response (i.e., avoidance or approach). This essay serves as a conceptual background for the two subsequent empirical studies (Essay 2 and Essay 3) that focus on two critical roles involved in online harassment (e.g., victims and bystanders). These two studies are conducted in the social media context. Essay 2 investigates whether and how individuals use online coping strategies in response to online harassment on social media. Results from a scenario-based experiment showed that victims would be more likely to adopt self-focused and approach strategies (e.g., seclusion, mediation, and reporting) when they perceived a high threat of the incident. Confidence in executing the platform functions would increase victims' use of the initiators-focused strategies in both modes (e.g., blocking and reporting) but reduce their use of self-focused avoidance strategy (e.g., seclusion). Trust in social media would lead victims to the self-focused approach strategy (e.g., mediation). Victims with the intensified fear of the incident would be more likely to use the self-focused and avoidance strategies (e.g., seclusion, mediation, and blocking). While Essay 2 focuses on the role of victims, Essay 3 concentrates on the role of bystanders and reporting strategy, which is one of the online coping strategies on social media that support bystanders' interventions. Essay 3 explains why individuals report witnessing online harassment. The results found that four contextualized factors (perceived emergency of the online harassment incident, perceived responsibility to report, perceived self-efficacy in using built-in reporting functions, and perceived outcome effectiveness of built-in reporting functions for tackling online harassment) are important factors for shaping bystander reporting interventions, while the presence of others as an inhibitor that discourages bystanders' willingness to help. This essay also found that socio- environmental and technological factors exert a significant effect on bystanders' willingness to intervene. In sum, this thesis contributes to the area of online harassment by breaking new ground for the study of users' prosocial responses to online harassment on social media. It not only furthers our understanding of online coping strategies but also provides valuable insights for practitioners to design effective coping features to combat online harassment.

Technology has, without a doubt, altered the social fabric of society. Mediated forms of communication have paved the way for more efficient production, and the vast amount of information available online has given people the opportunity to be more informed than ever. However, the rise of mediated communication has also presented a number of new threats. The current study focused on one of these threats, cyberbullying, and was interested in looking at how parents talk about and understand their child's cyberbullying behavior. This study had the goal of uncovering if parents talk to their child about cyberbullying, and how they approach these conversations. The intent of this study was was grounded in the idea that parent-child communication is a valuable tool for developing belief systems, as well as making sustainable, positive and effective changes to behavior and perceptions. Ultimately, parents do not avoid conversations about cyberbullying with their children. Parents structure these conversations with the intention of positively changing their child's behavior and beliefs. Specifically, parents talk about cyberbullying with their children as an effort to decrease the perceived risk their child faces if he or she participates in cyberbullying. However, these conversations are limited because they are grounded in misrepresented media coverage of cyberbullying which intensifies cyberbullying behaviors. As such, media producers must work toward presenting more all encompassing and wide spread coverage of cyberbullying as an effort to educate parents about the variety of behaviors which relate to cyberbullying.

This master's thesis deals with issue of cyberbullying. It reports comprehensive view of the phenomen, whose severity has an increasing tendency, in particular thanks to continuous technical progress and development in the field of information and communication technologies. It characterizes particular tools, describes a specific form the resulting risks, which can develop through using the Internet and other digital media. It deals with the effects of cyberbullying to the psychic of the adolescents and brings a comprehensive view and experiences of children and adolescents with this issue. It focuses on the differences in the perception of cyberbullying by children and adults and on the role of social worker in the process of prevention and solution of cyberbullying.